#TheBestYearsofOurLives swept the #Oscars #OTD 79 yrs ago. One of the most emotional wins: #HaroldRussell for Best Supporting Actor (he also rc'd an honorary award). Here w/ #CathyODonnell (accepting for #FredricMarch) & fellow winners #OliviadeHavilland & #AnneBaxter. #TCMParty
#TheBestYearsofOurLives fan Hedda Hopper's Mar. 1 column in '47: " #HaroldRussell ...was refused admission to a swank New York dining room b/c he wasn't wearing a tie. The headwaiter should be fired instantly. Manipulating a tie is one thing Harold can't do with hooks." #TCMParty
Not long after he made #TheBestYearsofOurLives, #HaroldRussell let the Motion Picture Relief Fund use his likeness to raise money for film industry members in need. Later he would go on to head up national orgs like AMVETS to advocate for #disabled #veterans. #TCMParty
Many fans of #TheBestYearsofOurLives were shocked DP #GreggToland didn't receive an Oscar nomination for the film. LOOK Magazine stepped up in 1947, naming him Best Cameraman in its annual movie awards along with recognition for Samuel Goldwyn and #HaroldRussell. #TCMParty
From #TheBestYearsofOurLives' shooting script when Homer ( #HaroldRussell ) raises his arm to wave to Fred ( #DanaAndrews ) & Al ( #FredricMarch ) as their taxi pulls away. Direction for Mrs. Parrish ( #MinnaGombell ): "...she is forced into a great sobbing release of tears." #TCMParty
Happy Monday, #TCMParty! Alfred Eisenstaedt's LIFE cover photo of #TeresaWright promoting #TheBestYearsofOurLives in Dec. '46. Although the film was reviewed inside, there was no article about Wright. Instead, the magazine profiled #HaroldRussell in "Handless #Veteran."
12/18/1980
#InsideMoves
#RichardDonner #BarryLevinson #ValerieCurtin #ToddWalton
#JohnSavage #DavidMorse #DianaScarwid #AmyWright #HaroldRussell
#StartsToday #45thAnniversary #filmsky
EL PASO TIMES, December 1946: "A tavern is the symbol of peacetime living in #TheBestYearsofOurLives." #TCMParty #HaroldRussell #DanaAndrews #MyrnaLoy #FredricMarch #HoagyCarmichael
In November '44, paratrooper #HaroldRussell was filming scenes like this for the Army training film DIARY OF A SERGEANT, which would lead to his role in #TheBestYearsofOurLives. Here he recreates the initial days of his stay in Ward 32 at Walter Reed hospital. #TCMParty #Veterans
Remembering #JohnFKennedy, who was a fan of #HaroldRussell and appreciated his support of a controversial decision to include people with mental illnesses and intellectual disabilities within JFK's Committee on the Employment of People with Disabilities ca. 1961. #TCMParty
On Oct. 19, 1947 at Chicago's Soldier Field, on the eve of the #HUAC hearings in D.C., #HaroldRussell made one of his most meaningful appearances after #TheBestYearsofOurLives to speak in honor of the first war dead to be sent home from the Pacific. #TCMParty #Veterans 📸 Getty
Oct. '47: #HaroldRussell writes "These Are My Hands" for U.S. papers. "If you saw the picture #TheBestYearsofOurLives, you probably felt sorry for the sailor who lost both of his hands. That fellow is me. But I don't feel sorry for myself." #TCMParty #Veterans #DisabilityRights
Samuel Goldwyn hired Audience Research, Inc. for the Long Beach, CA sneak preview of #TheBestYearsOfOurLives. The audience's EQ (Enthusiasm Quotient) was highest for #DanaAndrews and #FredricMarch (46%), with #TeresaWright (35%) and #HaroldRussell (24%) next. #TCMParty
On the set of #TheBestYearsofOurLives: #HaroldRussell and #CathyODonnell relax between takes of the tense woodshed sequence. #TCMParty #BehindTheScenes
In his memoir "Victory in My Hands," #HaroldRussell writes about taking piano lessons from co-star #HoagyCarmichael for #TheBestYearsofOurLives. Director #WilliamWyler put the kibosh on Carmichael's acting tips, though, wanting to preserve Russell's naturalness. #TCMParty
Their #WWII disabilities gave them common ground, but the friendship between #WilliamWyler and #HaroldRussell became about so much more. Nearly 40 years after they first met, Wyler wrote the intro to Russell's 2nd memoir just months before the director died. #TCMParty #VJDay80
Homer shows Wilma how he removes his harness in #TheBestYearsofOurLives, the shot that took 18 takes to film. #HaroldRussell grew so weary during filming that the script supervisor noted after one discarded take, "He looked dead." #TCMParty #BehindTheScenes #DisabilityInclusion
Decades after #TheBestYearsofOurLives premiered in November 1946, director #WilliamWyler and co-star #HaroldRussell kept in touch, often having dinner at a Chinese restaurant in Beverly Hills whenever Russell's veterans' advocacy work brought him back to L.A. #TCMParty #Veterans
#OTD in '46 William Wyler was in the middle of shooting the complicated soda fountain scene in #TheBestYearsOfOurLives with fixtures on loan from the Owl Drug Co. Featuring #DanaAndrews, #HaroldRussell, and Ray Teal. #BehindTheScenes #Veterans #TCMParty
Check out these tans 😉 A candid shot from an Aug. '61 meeting b/w #JFK and #TheBestYearsofOurLives' #HaroldRussell. Russell was head of AMVETS & vice chair of a pres. committee to employ people w/ #disabilities.📷 Robert Knudsen. JFK Pres. Library/Museum, Boston #TCMParty
In April 1947, "spunky" #HaroldRussell visits disabled servicemen recovering at the Naval Hospital in Philadelphia as #TheBestYearsofOurLives continues setting records around the country (and soon after in Europe). #TCMParty #Vetrans #Disability
"... the human soul, beaten down, overwhelmed, faced by complete failure and ruin, can still rise up against unbearable odds and triumph."- Harold Russell
#HaroldRussell
#TheBestYearsOfOurLives swept the #Oscars 78 years ago #OTD. One of the most emotional wins: #HaroldRussell for Best Supporting Actor. Here he poses w/ costar Cathy O'Donnell (w/ F. March's Oscar) and fellow winners Olivia de Havilland (l) and Anne Baxter (r). #TCMParty #Veterans
Image
Actor and double arm amputee Harold Russell, wearing a black tuxedo, smiles for the camera while holding two Academy awards with his prosthetics.
In 1947, amputee #HaroldRussell made history as the only person to win two #AcademyAwards for the same role—one for acting, another honorary award because no one thought he'd win the first, proving authentic #disabled talent could be popular in #Hollywood. #Oscars #DisabilityFilm
#MovieHistory
Double amputee Harold Russell, wearing a black tux, smiles holding two Academy Awards with his prosthetic hands.
In 1947, amputee #HaroldRussell made history as the only person to win two #AcademyAwards for the same role—one for acting, another honorary award b/c no one thought he'd win the first. Proving authentic #disabled talent could be popular in #Hollywood. #Oscars #DisabilityFilm
#ReelAbilities
Alfred Eisenstaedt's LIFE cover photo of a nearly makeup-free #TeresaWright promoting #TheBestYearsofOurLives in Dec. '46. Although the film was reviewed inside, there was no article about Wright. Instead, the magazine profiled #HaroldRussell in "Handless Veteran." #TCMParty
